Foundation Awards $117,000 to AGTS at Evangel University

The Board of Directors of The Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation, Inc. awarded a grant of $117,000 to the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary at Evangel University. The grant will support activities that integrate faith with work and economics (FWE) in classes, extracurricular activities, and in partnerships with influential institutions. This is the fourth annual grant the Foundation has awarded the seminary to promote FWE.

The lead investigators on this project are Dr. Charlie Self, professor of church history, and Dr. Johan Mostert, professor of community psychology. They have been working with a faculty team to establish the AGTS Discipleship Network, which is dedicated to transformation through discipleship and resourcing leaders.

Drs. Self and Mostert state, "This generous grant will expand the AGTS Discipleship Network to reach key lay leaders as well as pastors and missionaries. The grant will also expand the influence of EU/AGTS faculty with resources for growth, opportunities for publication and continual integration of faith, work and economics into the curricular and co-curricular preparation of spiritual leaders."

The faculty team created the AGTS Discipleship Dynamics Assessment, a biblically based and empirically verified discipleship assessment tool, offering insights on 5 dimensions and 40 outcomes of the believer's walk with the Lord. (See the Assessment and related resources here.)

Self and Mostert continue, "We are pleased to report interest in this assessment resource is growing throughout the USA and Canada, with new opportunities world-wide due to the influence of leadership at the AG's national office."

"At AGTS, we believe the local church and the believers occupying its pews are the answer to fulfilling the mission of God," said AGTS President Mark Hausfeld. "We are increasingly grateful for the opportunities these grants have provided AGTS to empower the grass roots of our Fellowship with reliable discipleship tools and toward a greater sense of Kingdom mission, no matter the arena of work God has called them to pursue."

Jennifer Hall